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Tech Companies Donate $750 Million to Obama’s Education Initiative

Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon are just a handful of the private companies contributing services and funds.

Pupils use tablets during courses in a classroom at the Leonard de Vinci 'connected' middle school in Saint-Brieuc, western France on September 12, 2013. The Leonard de Vinci school is one of the 23 middle schools in France to be connected to the internet and to be using new information technologies during courses.

Ma­jor tech and tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions com­pan­ies are an­swer­ing the pres­id­ent’s call to con­nect 99 per­cent of U.S. schools with high-speed In­ter­net with­in the next five years by pledging more than $750 mil­lion in dona­tions.

Pres­id­ent Obama will an­nounce Tues­day that Apple, Mi­crosoft, Sprint, and Ve­r­i­zon are just a hand­ful of the private com­pan­ies con­trib­ut­ing over $750 mil­lion worth of ser­vices and funds to schools through the White House’s Con­nec­tED ini­ti­at­ive.

Apple will pledge more than $100 mil­lion in iPads, Mac­Books, and oth­er ser­vices. Mi­crosoft will make 12 mil­lion cop­ies of its sig­na­ture Of­fice suite avail­able at no cost. Sprint will provide wire­less In­ter­net to 50,000 low-in­come stu­dents, and AT&T and Ve­r­i­zon are both com­mit­ting $100 mil­lion to the ini­ti­at­ive.

“These com­pan­ies have re­cog­nized the com­pel­ling na­tion­al need for us to have the high-speed broad­band that al­lows us to have the most mod­ern, most ef­fect­ive learn­ing classrooms in our coun­try where every child can learn at their desk and have a world of learn­ing at their fin­ger­tips,” Na­tion­al Eco­nom­ic Coun­cil Dir­ect­or Gene Sper­ling said on a press call Monday.

Obama’s state­ment fol­lows the Fed­er­al Com­mu­nic­a­tions Com­mis­sion’s an­nounce­ment Monday that it is doub­ling in­vest­ment in high-speed In­ter­net ac­cess for schools from $1 bil­lion to $2 bil­lion through E-Rate, a pro­gram es­tab­lished in 1996 that is fun­ded through fees on monthly phone bills.

Obama in­tro­duced the Con­nec­tED ini­ti­at­ive last sum­mer, and he re­it­er­ated his goal to im­prove tech­no­logy in U.S. schools dur­ing the State of the Uni­on ad­dress last week. Without Con­gress to stand in his way, it has the po­ten­tial to be­come one of the big­ger ac­com­plish­ments of his second term.

The edu­ca­tion ini­ti­at­ive could cost between $4 bil­lion and $6 bil­lion. Even with the in­fu­sion of fund­ing from the FCC and the private sec­tor, it’s un­clear where the rest of the fund­ing will come from without rais­ing fees on phone bills.

"Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency who has found himself and his agency at odds with the Trump administration in recent months, told staff members Tuesday that he is planning to step down from his post." The Obama administration holdover will step down on October 1.

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HAD BEGUN TO PUBLICLY CRITICIZE TRUMP

Sen. Corker to Retire

1 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Another Republican member of Congress is showing himself out the door. After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” said Sen. Bob Corker in a statement. The Tennessean has served since 2006.

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NOT ILLEGAL, BUT MUST BE FORWARDED TO WORK ACCOUNTS

At Least 6 WH Advisors Used Private Email Accounts

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

Jared Kushner, Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller, and Ivanka Trump sent or received some emails on personal accounts that related to White House business. "Officials are supposed to use government emails for their official duties so their conversations are available to the public and those conducting oversight. But it is not illegal for White House officials to use private email accounts as long as they forward work-related messages to their work accounts so they can be preserved."

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SAYS CONTACTS WERE “BENIGN”

Stone Releases Correspondence with Guccifer 2.0

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, released correspondence Tuesday" with the online hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 , which "U.S. intelligence agencies said was used by Russian government-linked entities to distribute embarrassing information about Democrats during the 2016 election. The disclosures came in a 47-page opening statement made available to reporters in advance of Mr. Stone’s Tuesday appearance in front of the House Intelligence Committee." Stone called his contacts with Guccifer "limited" and "benign."

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PRIEBUS, SPICER, HICKS, MCGAHAN

Mueller Could Start Interviewing White House Figures This Week

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Special counsel investigators could start interviewing current and former White House staff as soon as later this week regarding the Russian probe, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. One source cautioned it is still being worked out with Robert Mueller's office and said it might be delayed until next week." Among those who could have a sit-down with the special prosecutor: former chief of staff Reince Priebus, former press secretary Sean Spicer, communications director Hope Hicks, White House counsel Don McGahn, communications adviser Josh Raffel and associate counsel James Burnham.